Vladimir Pravik

The life of Vladimir Pravik: the hero of Chernobyl

Presentation by Nasoni Alessandro

Childhood and early life

Vladimir Pavlovič Pravik was born in Chernobyl, Kiev on the 13th of June 1962, after leaving school in 1979 he decided to become a firefighter and went to the Čerkasy's technical school of firefighters. He graduated in 1982 and worked as a lieutenant for the protection of the nuclear power plant of Chernobyl.

The disaster

On the 26th of April 1986 the 4th reactor of the power plant exploded and Pravik, who should have been home but had changed turns with one of his friends, led the 3rd expedition from the little village of Pryp"jat'. After making contact with lots of radiations he (and his crew) started retching and feeling sick. His skin turned black in several parts and it is said that his eyes turned from brown to light blue.

The death

After an incredibly long agony, Vladimir eventually died on the 11th of May 1986. His body and the ones of his colleagues were put in a vault because of how radioactive they still were. In 2014 a park in Irpin', a town in Kiev, was dedicated to Pravik for the valor he had shown during the tragic events of the Chernobyl power plant.